A hair salon is welcoming back customers a year on from a “traumatic” fire.
Capelli Salon has opened at 220 Sheerness High Street after a blaze, caused by an e-scooter exploding in the flat above, left a man severely injured and his pet dead after saving his owner.
On April 17 last year, firefighters were sent to the three-storey building at 7 High Street which contained two flats and the salon on the ground floor.
Much-loved dog Shogun saved his owner's life by waking him up and alerting him to the flames, but the pet then succumbed to smoke himself.
Kevin Record had fallen asleep and was alerted by the XL bully but due to the intensity of the flames there was smoke everywhere and visibility was reduced to nothing – meaning Kevin was unable to find his dog and get him out of the flat with him.
The 44-year-old, known as Kev, was taken into intensive care after 20% of his body was covered in burns.
Capelli Salon, meanwhile, suffered water damage and was unable to reopen.
The building is still derelict today but the business has now opened at the other end of the High Street, near the Castle Tavern.
Owner Colin Bastable, who opened what was then a barber’s in 2005, was called at around 2am that night by a member of staff who told him the building was on fire.
The Minster resident, known as Strawberry due to a birthmark, rushed to the scene and was “left shell-shocked” by what the 44-year-old described as “traumatic” events.
He said: “I woke up before I got the call and just had a feeling something really terrible had happened.
“Then I got the call and rushed down to the building. When I got there I couldn't believe it, it was quite an inferno.
“My world fell apart really that night.”
Days after the fire, Colin and his team of hairdressers were “lucky enough” to be offered the opportunity to keep their business going by renting chairs at a neighbouring salon called Angels, which is opposite Sheerness Clock Tower.
But Colin, who has been in the business since 1997 when he started as a junior at Upper Cuts in Sheerness, always wanted to reopen his salon.
As the one-year anniversary of the fire approached, the unit at 220 Sheerness High Street came on the market to lease and Colin jumped at the opportunity.
He had wanted to get back into the old shop but was unable to get the funds together to repair the water damage.
He said: “I have good memories from the old salon but this is a better building with more space. And I believe everything happens for a reason.
“One of the regrets I have about not going back to the old salon is that we didn't get to put up a plaque for Shogun.
“That would have been a nice touch because it was such a moving thing that night, what the dog did when he saved his owner's life.”
Colin got the keys to his new shop on April 2 and, after a £3,500 refurb, reopened two weeks later on April 17 – exactly a year after the fire.
He said: “It was very stressful and I was on a limited budget and didn’t have much time to get the salon set up but we've got a very understanding landlord and had some friends helping us out.
“So, with a limited budget, I managed to set the salon up in a couple of weeks. I came in, working day and night.
“It’s a working project, however, and I am spending all my days off working on the salon.
“However, if this place burns down as well, I will take the hint and not open another one.”
